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Jewfish Tactics


King slayer

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Hi Raiders,

I know a lot of us are on a mission to get that whopper Jew, and some of us who are just cracking the code are just trying to get Jew on a semi regular basis. I'm sure most will agree that Jew a very rewarding and also at times (and for the same reasons) very frustrating target.

The only way i have managed to catch a few is by taking little bits of info from everyone and every source I can find, and just putting the pieces together till they fit, and of course putting in the time.

So.. my point is I propose to start a thread here and now where we can all enter in our little bits of knowledge, for those inclined to share, and from it we can mutually benefit. I DO NOT propose to elicit secret spots, as I believe these fish deserve the respect they have earned from their elusive nature. However from learning about specific techniques and types of water to fish, we can all up the enjoyment factor of the sacred Jewie quest.

I'll start by sharing what I know from my own experience and I hope some others can do the same.

My learnings so far, based on limited experience are as follows:

I have caught all of my (3) Jewies this year in Middle harbour. One in very deep water on the channel edge at high tide in around 22m , and two from shore in a hole around 4-6m deep at low tide. All were hooked within 1/2 hr after the tide turn or there abouts. All fish were caught at or just before day break.

I have caught one 60cm size on a defrosted, but recently caught squid head on the bottom, which when gutted, had my yakka in his belly that was stripped off the hook not long before his capture.

One from shore (69cm) was taken down by a half squid, again caught and frozen earlier, and my biggest and most recent on a 7 inch white gulp jerk shad in the same spot, before day break.

The two in the shallow water did not swallow and run with the bait, but just tapped at it and had to be struck while chewing to be hooked.

My basic method for fishing the plastic is to use about 1/8th to half ounce head, with double lift and drop all the way back to the shore or boat. Similar technique to flattie fishing, and they like to jump on too!

I have been recently trialling the gulp wriggler grubs in the largest size, and I think the jewies will find it hard to resist one of these, but time will tell.

I have had a few go's at the beach recently, so far resulting in on pulled hooks and one gummy shark. Both of those came from a deep gutter connected to the ocean, just after dark on a high tide. The pulled hooks was the night before full moon, and while I can't be sure it was a jew, It didn't feel like anything else I could name.

Generally speaking my tackle is 30lb braid, 40-80lb Jinkai leader (between 1.5-3m), with rod length to suit the spot or technique and a 4500 shimano bait runner. Rigs are varied for location, but usually a two hook rig for bait and plastic on a loop knot.

Like i said there's some info there which other may be able to use, but I'm sure others will have a lot more to add than I.....

Dave

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Good topic King Slayer!! :thumbup: I'll bet there'll be a lot of opinions here for jewfish success. I hope there's not just enough to have you back to where you started.

Here's one method to consider.

Let's call it the starting off method or if you've had no luck later on in the spots you fancy, let's call it desperate measures.

Try drift fishing to at least get a few flathead or something to take home...... While you're doing that, have one jewfish rod with a large reel on it with a few hundred metres of braid and only a couple of metres of mono backing, just enough to stop the braid knot to the spool from slipping..... Cast a very large bait preferably a live or a dead squid well to the side of the boat and always towards the deeper water..... It doesn't matter if the bait goes down into the deepest hole in the area because you need to cover as much ground as you can along the channel and also around the channel edges ..... The important part is to make the jewfish rod your hands on rod and don't worry about the flathead lines, they'll take care of themselves...... With your jewfish rod keep on opening the bail often to pause the bait. If you're lucky enough you'll run into a jewfish school, so wherever you hook up go quietly back and anchor only a little up current from the exact spot where you hooked up.

You can also use this method with a large back up bait before the start of your bait fishing. Let me give you a Hawkesbury example to think about for Middle Harbour.... If a northerly or a north westerly would have a drifting boat going past Flint and Steel and say towards West Head bait grounds, drop a jew rod out at least hundred and fifty yards behind the boat before you anchor in the downwind side of the bait grounds. If the Palm Beach side would be the end of the drift do the same thing and you might get hit by a kingfish on the way to your squid and live bait session, and you can fish the spot for a while till the kingfish move and then get back to catching bait in much closer because that lot won't either be there or be all that hungry if there were kingfish there.

Cheers

jewgaffer :1fishing1:

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One of things that I strongly beleive in is to think about the size of the bait before putting a hook in it and always try to use a hook as small as possible ( when using slabs or fillets of talilor or mullet etc) and match the line class to the hook. I find that by doing this your stike rate increases. However haveing said that, if you are fishing with say 30lb braid, near structure such as a bridge, you wouldnt drop down to a 1/0 hook because the amount of pressure put on a hook that size with line that strong will straighten ar snap the hook, but if you were fishing an area where there were open water and you wanted to use a small strip of mullet on a 1/0 hook I would only be using 12 - 15lb mono with a 25lb leader. anything less than a 25lb leader and you could be sorry as jew will break lighter leaders about 6 inches up from the hook.

The reason I beleive in the smallest hook possible is that in a river or estuary a large hook will make the bait lay on the bottom and look unnatural, whereas with the smaller hook it wavers around a bit more and definately looks more tempting.

All the fishing mags will tell you to pin the hook in a fillet about half way down , bring it out near the bottom and tie a half hitch around the top, this may work well from the beach or rocks where there is wave action but in my opinion if you want to catch jew in a river where there is only tidal flow - pin the hook once through the top with a hook just big enough for the hook to be exposed and I gaurantee your jewfish strike rate will go through the roof! Fishing this way can be frustrating as the small bream etc will pick at the fillet and it will need to be replaced from time to time but the results will make it worth it. Personally if I catch a yellow tail it goes on immedeately as a fillet. I find FRESH fillets like this with blood oozing from the fillet are gun bait and outfish live bait.

As for using smaller lines 12- 15lb, some peaples eyes will light up when they read this and they will probably think bulls##t!!! I can assure you that I have caught several jew over 20lb this way infact the largest jew so far is 25lb on 10lb line. You have to remember that you are fishing open water with no structure so there is no need to go berzerk trying to stop the fish, infact, that is probably how most fish are lost - never panic! remember that there is aproximately 450 metres of line on your reel and most jew wont run that far, that quick - they arent marlin or tuna! If your reel is looking a bit low on line and the fish isnt showing any signs of stopping( particularly if its going with a strong current) put the rod into the rod holder, start the motor, lift the anchor and motor slowly toward the fish retrieving line as you go eventually the fish will tire and come to the boat and never rush it to the boat. I can assure you this works I have done this several times by myself and a good mate of mine caught 2 one night at brooklyn with his son 34lb and 26lb using this method several years ago. A good rule to remember is that the fish is NOT ready to gaff until it is laying belley up.

Oh another thing, when the rod is sitting in the rod holder waiting for a bite, I leave the drag set at the tension you would fight the fish, most jew hook themselves this way but always set the hook when you taking it from the rod holder just in case as they have very hard mouths.

I have also experienced jew timidly biting the bait as you have kingslayer, however , this only seems to happen in slack water, at other times when the water is flowing at a fair clip they tend to just smash and grab!

These are some of my thoughts and techniques, hope they help.

Pete.

Edited by tide'n'knots
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Good thread & I hope one that helps some Raiders get into Jew. :thumbup:

I really don't know where to start. :wacko:

Let's look at WHERE to find them. The answer is anywhere. They can turn up anywhere. I've caught them in 90ft holes & in 3ft of water in Hen & Chicken bay while breaming. It all depends on where the bait is.

Remember that Jew are lazy buggers. I reckon this is why they can be so frustrating. They will lay up in holes, caves, edges of chanells & back eddys behind an obstruction such as bridge pylons or large rocks from a breakwall. Many a Jew has been caught at bait grounds as well. Always worth putting your 1st livey straight back out when collecting bait. I love beach fishing for them. I try to fish near a corner of a beach in the gutter closest to some rocks. They come out of there hidey holes around a tide change and cruise a beach looking for food.

They usually only come out to foriage around a tide change or when conditions suit such as in a flood or a big barometric spike when all of a sudden they switch on & feed aggressively.

WHEN. You can catch them any day of the month. However I believe there are certain stages of a moon phase fish better than others. I kept dairies from when I was fishing hard for them & there was a definite pattern to my catch rates. Mind you each spot was different. I believe if you concentrate your efforts in the waxing moon, i.e. new to full you will catch more Jew than from a full moon to a new moon. This is just a generalisation & my experience. I know people have caught massive jew during a waning moon. I'm just outlining when I believe you will increase your catch rates.

Barometric pressure plays a large part in a Jews activity level. They have a large swim bladder & a barometer below 1010 shuts them down. I like fishing rapidly rising barometer. They will feed on a fast dropping barometer before a change but you have to be on the water as the window is small. Needless to say dawn & dusk are prime times. They will feed in shallower water at night. I like deeper holes during the day.

HOW. There are many ways. You always hear about the bloke who got a 30lb Jew on a stinky prawn & 6 lb line or a piece of old pillie. It's enough to drive you mad! It's all about persistance & patience. Softies have proved a revalation in Jew fishing. They are now caught regularly in the middle of the day on light line. They are a nice by-catch when breaming! If bait fishing then you have to use self caught bait. Sure you will catch small fish on bought bait but consistantly catch good fish you have to have live or very fresh bait. Squid is awesome. Live tailor, yakkas, slimies, mullet etc are great to. I know a gun Jew fisho who swears by live sweep off the rocks. Slab & butterflied baits of the above livies are also very good. A slab of just caught tailor from the beach is hard to beat as a big jew bait. Beach worms are a fave as well.

I use a snood rig of Gammagatsu octopus hooks. Size depends on how big the fish are likely to be. 2 x 10/os off the beach in winter. 2 x 4/os in the harbour or rivers. 8-15kg line with 30-60lb trace is fine. From big breakwalls I fish 60lb main & 100lb leader & hang on!

So in summary I believe that if you fish a likely spot with self caught bait or softies a couple of days after a new moon or a few days before a full moon on a tide change with a rising barometer around dawn or dusk you will catch Jew on a regular basis. Just remember persistance & patience!!!

Hope this helps someone.

Cheers,

Grant.

Here's a few pics for you to enjoy.

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I'm not into Jew fishing at all, and probably ( honestly ) never will be. I am in awe of everyone who chases these denizens. Great photos there. It is always a shock to see these large fish in photos when you go to the tackle store's wall of fame etc.

fly fishing and blackfish is what makes my world turn.

Just wanted to say to everyone that posts information on thi :thumbup: s thread- Thanks for not being selfish and so secretive. I have had a few emails from other members telling me not to say where I catch Surgeons, because they are worried "everyone" will go there then. Fishing is for everyone, and as for me- I am always eager to give advice or help with anything I know about fishing. I certainly didn't get any when I was a youngster, and with people like you guys above- good things will happen to you for sharing your knowledge. At Narrabeen Lake about a month ago, I gave this guy " 10 years" of knowledge in 5 minutes on how to catch balackfish, and he was so happy.

Well done fellas ( and girl's too Donna and Roberta...lol )

THANK YOU!,

Matt

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I'm not into Jew fishing at all, and probably ( honestly ) never will be. I am in awe of everyone who chases these denizens. Great photos there. It is always a shock to see these large fish in photos when you go to the tackle store's wall of fame etc.

fly fishing and blackfish is what makes my world turn.

Just wanted to say to everyone that posts information on thi :thumbup: s thread- Thanks for not being selfish and so secretive. I have had a few emails from other members telling me not to say where I catch Surgeons, because they are worried "everyone" will go there then. Fishing is for everyone, and as for me- I am always eager to give advice or help with anything I know about fishing. I certainly didn't get any when I was a youngster, and with people like you guys above- good things will happen to you for sharing your knowledge. At Narrabeen Lake about a month ago, I gave this guy " 10 years" of knowledge in 5 minutes on how to catch balackfish, and he was so happy.

Well done fellas ( and girl's too Donna and Roberta...lol )

THANK YOU!,

Matt

Thanks for your comments Matt. That is what we call "fishraider spirit". Most of our members are willing to share :thumbup: and help others along their fishing journey.

Cheers mrsswordfisherman

PS To the members that told you not to divulge spots :busted_cop::banned2::adminpower:

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Thankyou guys for helping others to help themselves. My brother and I are on a mission to catch the elusive jew. Our knowledge bank is slowly building up and the pieces are finally falling together.

The best advice I can give my fellow raiders is to get their hands on a copy of the DVD Secret Silver and watch it over and over. I have learnt alot from studying this dvd.

Cheers

LUMPOOKEY :thumbup:

Edited by LUMPOOKEY
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Here's a few little tips that might be helpful

1. To give your bait the best chance of being noticed, wind the line in a few metres to reposition the bait on the bottom every ten minutes or so. You can get to know by feel whether or not your bait is still on the hook by winding in a little, lifting your rod using a slow lift and drop action to feel the weight. Then fast jig the bait up and down several times by lifting the rod and letting the bait drop back down again. Jigging the bait helps to attract attention and it's important to change the position in case your bait is hidden or in case your live bait is hiding in cover on the bottom.

2. When fishing lit up areas at night cast at least one large livebait to cover the darkest area.

3. When beach fishing the open surf at night use a big solid bait or livie and a claw sinker if casting against the wind. It doesn't matter if you think your bait might be in too close, just leave it there.

4. When beach fishing at night and the general bite suddenly goes dead it's a good time to use a cluster of beach worms, the main food for jewfish in the surf.

5. When fishing a point use large baits and anchor up so that you can fish both sides of the point, the current and the eddy side no matter if you think one side is too shallow.

6. Good structure is the key but anchor at least ten metres back from bottom structure and cast to the sides and no closer than ten metres away from the front a bridge pylon.

Location Tip -

If you launch at Brooklyn and happen to be running late like I was a few times, or if it's too choppy to fish just wide of Juno near the Walker Point end to fish the whole of the run in tide, just warm up the motor and plough your boat just around the point near flatrock and fish off the red marker before the inlet to Long island and fish three hours each side of the top of the tide.

Cheers

jewgaffer :1fishing1:

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Hey everyone, I am yet to crack the Jewfish combo :wacko: but with valuable threads like this I know its only a matter of time before I too can be jewfish :biggrin2: .

I just wanted to thank the guys n gals who contribute to the fishraider community brains chest. Taking the time and effort to share expertise makes the forums so valuable whatever the topic.

Well done to the contributors, mods, admins many thanks

Dhutchy

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thank you so much people for sharing your knowledge. I am only new to fishraider and am hooked. Beats watching TV but the missus is starting to get concerned as to why i am spending so much time on the internet if you know what i mean ha ha. Please keep em coming.

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Haven't posted or been active in a year and abit, but saw this lately and thought, hang on, this is where I can help.

A few tips for Jews:

I have had ALOT more luck on very light tackle. It tends to be tougher but funner in the strike, and the jews go it more than my heavier rigs.

Fresh baits are essential. Put out a poddy mullet trap in sandy areas if in doubt, filled with bread this is an EASY EASY way to get live baits.

Find a spot with anonmolies (misspelt). Often 90% of the fish are in 10% of the water. Things such as ununusual holes, fast moving trenches, or anything that the Jewie can use as ambush territory is good. Things like flat, sandy areas with little to no structure will yeild NO results.

Drift, or try to keep your baits moving some what. Often my best results have been drifts over a series of holes. Failing that, I leave a live bait on a LONG leader.

Jews vary in their strikes, so stay alert!

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I thought I would include an edited excerpt from a recent reply I made to a recent topic by Jfish in reference to fishing the Hawkesbury River for jewfish with his Dad.

Keep on persevering with the right set up, in the right location, in the right conditions and if all goes suddenly quite stay on just that little bit longer into the run out tide near the mouth and from the stillwater well into the run in tide upriver.

Jewfish are a big lazy fish, smart in ambush, however very slow by comparison to other predatory fish. Most of their communal food has to be rounded up as a school, or cornered and manhandled with the assistance of others in the pack, so if you catch one out in the open it would be more than likely that twenty one were there......... Most of the time high tide jewfish coming into and going out of estuaries on a nightly basis spend time in the surf fossicking and raising beach worms or cornering smaller fish forced out with the tide...... However when fish are there, a pack of hunting jewfish going along a beach will hound just about everything that can't make it to cover...... If there are heaps of whiting say along the seven mile open beaches and the whiting are still there after the first couple of hours of the run out tide every day over a segment of time, it would be hard to find jewfish there, and naturally next time whiting or similiar where constantly there during that tide period, it would be best to fish smaller areas, particularly where there are nearby rocks involved..... The same principle applies to open areas in estuaries. It's up to you decide whether to stay or move...... When you cast a good bait it into jewfish territory, if the jewfish are there or close enough they will sense your bait as soon as it hits the water or catch onto the activity of other fish around your bait or your bottom burley, preferably the slow seepage type used only if the current is not too strong to attract fish to the source....... You might feel bites from other fish and all of a sudden you've hooked up a jewfish as a separate issue, the jewfish may not necessarily have been responsible the original series of bites you had.

As to fishing for jewfish at the moment we are relying on the jewfish that are currently in the system. Unfortunately they have been of soapie size fish acclimatised to the periphery, yet to young to fend outside, with only scattered signs of incoming jew that have managed to stay in the proximity of our main heads.......I would say those have already been in the system, the potential incoming fish having migrated away from the Sydney area due to the long periods of near record cold weather that all but wiped out Autumn as a season and winter was even too cold this year for incoming hairtail, and Autumn is the prime time for jewfish to school up and breed in rivers as is winter time on the warmer north coast.

We are still experiencing spring conditions and springtime is not the season in which jewfish migrate into an estuary. August and September are the quietest months of the year for the movement of jewfish schools into Sydney and estuaries to the south.

We need a week or two of genuine summer weather to bring the summer schools back into Sydney, that is if they are close enough to come in to this area this year, otherwise we need adverse conditions to the north to encourage jewfish to come into our area.

When true summer sets in let's hope the usual hundreds of summer jewfish come into the Hawkesbury and give the river back its reputation as being the home of resident jewfish.

Cheers

jewgaffer :1fishing1:

Edited by jewgaffer
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  • 2 weeks later...

Hey there LUMPOOKY , Gav here . Whereabouts can i get a copy of that DVD , i never tire of info that will bring me closer to my nemesis the Jewfish . I was wondering as well to some of you experienced Jewfisho's that would it be all possible to maybe come on down to the bigsmoke in 2009 and go out on a fishing trip with one or a couple of ya's . I will pay my way well and trully , i am very keen. Let me know your thoughts. From Gavin.

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I read a scientific study on jewfish behaviour and there was some interesting things that were observed about how jews live, what they eat and other things. In this study which was estuary based it was foun d that each fish actually has a single home that they establish themselves in, and they will pass over seemingly good habitat to find one they like. Once established, they mainly eat prawns until they are just over legal size (which is why many jouvenile jews are caught on prawns). There may be several fish in the one hole, but not a large number. Once the jew grow to a large enough size they require a different diet and ambush small fish from their holes. They also have been known to travel large distances up and down the estuary to find food, always returning to their hole. They feed on small fish primarily at this stage. The feeding tends to happen at slack tide, but it can last for several tide changes sometimes, and jews have been known to cover up to two thirds the length of an estuary/river system in one feeding session. The study tracked resident estuary jews and not jews that come into the system seasonally to feed, but it provides some clues as to the behaviour of the species. These are the conclusions I drew as a fisherman from reading the report, many of which are similar to what people have experienced:

* If you are fishing on a hole in which a jew resides, you can catch them at any tide, at any time of the day, particularly on moving baits or lures as they will strike at it to protect territory or as an easy meal. This will often be a smaller fish, less than 100cm.

* Fish the tide changes in thoroughflow areas to maximise the number of jews passing your bait. This is why bridges are good. Not only do jews reside at the bridges, but many feeding and immigrating jews pass there as they are usually built at narrow points in river and estuaries.

* if jews are schooling up it is usually the immigrating jews, not the resident ones, and they are found seasonally.

* flesh baits and squid strips are an easy meal and will do well for fish that are roaming around for food.

I am studying marine science at uni and all the fishermen in the course spend every lecture break talking about catching jews and kingfish. If you want to regularly catch jews you have to put in time regularly into catching them with a single method, and refine, refine refine. As you meet old weathered secretive jew fishermen at bait grounds and out on the water fishing if they see you are a regular they will help you out. No one is going to go the extra mile an help a weekend warrior get onto a jew, because the culture is one of putting in the effort. All the best jew fishermen I know have been at it a long time refining their technique.

One of my friends from uni has basically nailed down catching jews from a breakwall where he lives up north. He has got it so refined that he averages about one very nice fish (10-15kg) in every two trips, but he started out catching nothing for ages, and just trying to watch the old masters of the trade and see what they do.

I think threads like this are great because they fill you in on the stuff you need to know before you even go out at all, but it's still perserverence that will get you over the line. If you really want a great jew, read all the stuff all the old fellas in this thread have to say, then get out there and keep trying everything until you nail one, then keep refining. Your jew spot will require slightly different methods to everyone else's but there's already more than enough info here to get most people started.

My aim for '09 is my first beach jew. I've only landed them in the rivers thus far. I had one very promising run off a beach last year on squid, but no hookup as I was fiddling with something else at the time :(

Good luck to all the raiders going after jew!

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I read a scientific study on jewfish behaviour and there was some interesting things that were observed.......

..........I am studying marine science at uni and all the fishermen in the course spend every lecture break talking about catching jews and kingfish. If you want to regularly catch jews you have to put in time regularly into catching them with a single method, and refine, refine refine......

All the best jew fishermen I know have been at it a long time refining their technique.

.........I think threads like this are great because they fill you in on the stuff you need to know before you even go out at all, but it's still perserverence that will get you over the line.

Hi Huntsman, You certainly put some good work into this post, well done!! :thumbup: The scientific study looks well researched to me and it does not appear to be biased in any way.

I believe Fisheries have micro chipped a lot of Georges River jewfish and they are keeping track of their movements on a computer- It would be good if it leaks Lol. I believe they have been well up river and that other jewfish have joined them in good numbers, and I agree that they can move around an estuary system in a short time, go on a feeding binge and then hole up again.

Top post Andrew! Keep up the good work!! I'll bet your Dad is pleased to be able to fish with a Marine Scientist! and I'll bet Irish Robbie is making lots of notes when he gets home!

Cheers

jewgaffer :1fishing1:

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  • 1 month later...

Hi all,

Just wanted to say a HUGE thank you to everyone that posted there tips and tricks to master the catch of a Jew........

While I have only recently got back into the fishing game my main aim is to nail a jewfish..... I can remember countless nights at suposed Jewie hot spots waiting for one only to ever bring up 5ft eels.... very very disapointing night's............

I'm a new member that is just amazed with the site and it's patrons everyone is willing to give there knowledge and answer's for any questions are replyed with no delay...........

I just can't wait to use all this new infomation to use going after the awesome Jew...........

Thankyou all

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cheers guys ive only got the 1 jew unde3r my belty but im getting there and more will be soon to come hopefully if any of you more senior gusy are up for teaching a youngun a lil more in person pm me and im a very receptive learner thanks for all that guys

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